CRN Channel News

The creators of Skype, the peer-to-peer program that lets computer users make free calls to each other anywhere in the world, are releasing a new version that lets users dial regular phones from a computer.

Two days after stunning the financial community with its plans to return an estimated $32 billion in one-time $3 dividends to its shareholders, Microsoft went on to post strong results for both the fourth quarter 2004 as well as end its full fiscal year on a high note.

Some of the biggest solution providers in the business are enjoying resurgent sales and increased customer engagements, although profitability remains a persistent challenge, said participants at the VARBusiness 500 Executive Roundtable, an annual gathering in New York of top managers representing companies that charted the VARBusiness 500.

The 2004 VARBusiness 500 Awards honor channel standouts

Fighting back from years of consolidation and tethered ambition, a top flight of solution providers were celebrated for their ingenuity and success at the 2004 VARBusiness 500 Awards at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room in New York last month.

Executive Rick Kearney, CEO of Mainline Information Systems of Tallahassee, Fla., had a particularly good year. For starters, his company, No. 90 on this year's VARBusiness 500 list, grew by 25 percent to $411.4 million. It was the third year in a row that Kearny drove top-line revenue growth of $100 million or more, lifting Mainline from its 109 position last year.

What you should look for, and what vendors want in return

Like all smart VARs, you know you'll never deliver a championship fiscal year if you don't think like a team player--and that means communicating with your vendor partners so they know what you need from them, and you know what they expect from you.

Doculabs examines a new breed
of workflow and business process management solutions to enable VARs to help customers improve processes and maximize their intellectual capital like never before. Which ones are right for your customers?

Technology lobbyists Wednesday were cheering a House vote that would block a looming requirement to change the way corporate America accounts for the stock options that many in Silicon Valley credit with being an engine of the high-tech economy.

Storage certifications are some of the most valuable"and difficult to earn"pedigrees in the IT industry. So it was a pleasant surprise for many solution providers when Arrow's Small and Medium Business division recently introduced its first annual PowerTrack event for Hewlett-Packard's storage offerings, which helped approximately 100 attendees achieve more than 80 sales and consulting certifications.